million-dollar

The compound adjective "million-dollar" is a modern American English formation that leverages two well-established terms of measurement and value. "Million," with its Latin root in mille (thousand), evolved through Italian and French to signify an immense quantity. "Dollar," originating as a German coin named for a specific valley, became the primary unit of U.S. currency. When combined, the phrase literally denotes a value of one million U.S. dollars. Through figurative use, it has expanded to describe anything perceived as being of the highest worth, importance, or quality, effectively using an extreme monetary figure as a metaphor for supreme value.

Structure: million (a number) + dollar (a unit of currency) - million: From Old French million, from Italian milione, from mille (Latin for "thousand") + the augmentative suffix -one. It denotes a very large number (a thousand thousands). - dollar: From Low German daler, short for Joachimstaler, a coin from the silver mines of Joachimstal (St. Joachim's Valley). It denotes the standard monetary unit of several countries, notably the United States.